John i



UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

JOHN I. BERRY, OF WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNO R TO GEORGE W.KLUMP, OF SAME PLACE.

.METALLIC FASTENER FOR WOOD JOINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,696, dated October8, 1889.

Application filed October 10, 1888. Serial No. 287,774. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN I. BERRY, a citi zen of the United States,residing at William sport, in the county of Lycoming and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMetallic Fasteners for Wood Joints; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

The invention which forms the subject of this specification, and whichwill be described presently, relates to a new and useful device forfastening together two adjoining pieces of wood, being particularlyvaluable when the use of nails or screws is not desirable, either fromthe unpleasant appearance to the eye of the heads of such nails orscrews, or in cases when it is really impossible to make use of iveness,at the same time being very economical and easy of insertion.

In order that others may understand my device, attention is invited tothe accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, andin which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the preferable form offastener; Fig. 2, a top elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a top view of thefastener, showing it when in position in two pieces of wood; Fig. 4, amodification in the form of the fastener; Fig. 5, a top elevationshowing the connecting end straight instead of curved, as in Figs. 1, 2,3, and 4.

In all of these figures the same parts are designated by identicalletters of reference.

Before beginning the description of the form of my invention thematerial of the same will first be dealt with. I

I Although I do not wish to be limited to its use, I prefer to make thefasteners out of or dinary thin flat sheet iron or steel out into longstrips, varying anywhere from threeeighths to an inch or two in width,and these strips are again out into shorter pieces of the right lengthfor the fastener.

Instead of sheet iron or steel I could make use of tin or sheet-brass;butthese latter materials are not so advantageous as the former a, thestraight parallel sides b b, and the turned-in ends 0 c. The curvedportiona is not an indispensable element in this form, as it could besubstituted by a perfectly-straight portion, as shown in Fig. 5, withoutaffecting in any way the results accomplished by the fastener when inuse.

The manner of using such a device as just described is as follows:Suppose it is desired to fasten the two pieces of wood as and y securely and rigidly together. The two pieces are first placed and heldfirmly together with the grain of the wood running parallel and in thesame direction. The fastener is now placed on these ends edgewise, andwith its sides parallel with the grain of the Wood, so as to bridge overonto both, as shown in Fig. 3, and is then driven down into the ends, sothat the upper portion of the whole device is flush with the top of bothpieces. It is immaterial as to the nature and construction of thedriving implement used for this purpose, and I do not wish to be limitedto any in particular.

When the fastener is in position as shown in Fig. 3, it will be seenthat the piece a: is firmly held by means of the curved portion a, andthat the piece y is held by means of the turned-in ends 0 0, so that itwould be almoft impossible to separate the two pieces. It might beadvisable, though of course not absolutely necessary, to glue the twopieces together first before inserting the fastener; but this means,while possessing some advantages, is open to the objection of being moreexpensive and laborious.

In Fig. 4 is shown a modification in the form of my fastener. Thepeculiar feature in this modification is, that the ends or lugs c c areturned outwardly instead of inwardly, as in the other forms. This formmight be very conveniently used in some instances where it would beimpossible to make use of the pre ferred form of fastener, when the woodwould be of a peculiar grain and demanded such.

When I have used the expression horse shoe-shaped to indicate the formof the fastmetal of a general horseshoe shape, with ener, I would haveit understood that said exstraight parallel sides and with retainingpression is to convey the idea of the shape ends or lugs c c, andadapted to be driven shown in the drawings, wherein the fasteneredgewise, substantially as set forth.

5 is represented as having straight sides par- In testimony whereofIaflix my signature in I 5 allel, or approximately so. presence of twowitnesses.

Having now described my invention, what I JOHN I. BERRY. claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, WVitnesses: is HARRY H. HILL,

10 A metallic fastener made of thin fiat sheet WV. A. REINHART.

